Tails goes to Gregory House
by webhead112233
Summary: No one, nowhere, is safe from Gegory House. It is omni-present through all possible worlds. Miles Tails Prower is next.
1. Night 1

_Where am I? I don't remember landing the X Tornado, I just found myself walking through the forest. Something just doesn't feel right._

Tails pushed through the doors into the building. He figured he'd just ask where he was and if anyone had seen where he'd landed his plane. Tails didn't like his situation; his memory was perfect, and yet he had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there.

"Hello friend, would you like a room?" Tails jumped in surprise at the voice after so long in silence. He looked around before finding what looked like a rat. He was about Tails' height, and carried a keyring and candle.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I frightened you." The rat said, "My name is Gregory. I'm in charge here at Gregory House." "Oh, so this is a hotel of some kind?" Tails asked. Gregory nodded, "That's right. One of the best in fact. Now, to repeat my earlier question, would you like a room?"

"No thank you, I was just wondering if you could tell me where I am and if you saw where I landed, or probably crashed, my plane." Tails said.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen any planes this night. Do you not remember where you left it?" Gregory asked. "No, I can't really remember much of anything that's happened tonight." Tails said.

"Oh my! Well, if that's the case, then you should probably get a room for now. Some rest will do you well. Who knows? Maybe you'll even remember what brought you here." Gregory said.

Tails thought for a moment and decided that Gregory was right. "Right this way friend." Gregory said before Tails even said that he agreed.

"I've never seen your species before." Tails said as Gregory led him down the hall. "I've never seen a fox with two tails, lots of strange people find themselves here, it seems." Gregory said with a chuckle. There was something about the rats laugh that sent a chill up Tails' spine.

As Gregory showed Tails down the hall, Tails suddenly became aware of a strange, frantic murmuring coming from one of the doors. Tails couldn't help but approach the door, knowing that something wasn't right.

Tails knocked on the door, and in a blur of movement, the door swung open and Tails was pulled inside. Tails was met with a horrifying glare from bloodshot eyes. The figure spoke in a raspy, exhausted voice.

"If your here to kill me, go ahead, but don't you dare mess with my numbers."


	2. Night 2

_I have no idea what happened to drive this mare mad, but I believe she may have been trying to warn me, trying to tell what happened, so it wouldn't happen to me._

When Tails was pulled into the room, he was forced to accept two things, one after the other. The first was that alicorns were, in fact, a species of equine that existed. The second was that alicorns could look as gray and crazed as the mare in front of him did.

Her eyes were bloodshot; it was the only color visible on her otherwise grayed out body. Her room was filled, floor to ceiling, with countless papers. Spreadsheets, maps, pictures of strange creatures, and equations. Some of the writing was eligible, but some of it was written in perfect form.

"If your here to kill me, go ahead, but don't you dare mess with my numbers." The alicorn said. Several books, pencils, and other random objects were engulfed in a gray aura and levitated at Tails threateningly. "Its okay, I'm not here to disturb your... numbers." Tails said, backing towards the door.

"Y-your the new guest aren't you? Good! You'll keep beady eyes busy while I finish up my plans. I'm almost finished, I just can't get all the numbers to balance." The alicorn turned to one of the thousands of papers, magically running a pencil over it to try and correct her mistakes.

Tails looked at the paper. "You forgot to carry the three. And you used 3.16 for pie instead of 3.14." Tails pointed out, along with a few other mathematical problems. The alicorn looked from the papers to Tails, back to the papers, then back to Tails. At first, Tails was afraid he'd offended her, then her lips pulled into a cracked grin.

"You do numbers to! This is fantastic! We can work together to get the guests out. We'll have to adjust the formula for you, but with the two of us, it'll be a cinch! What's your name?" "My name is Miles, but people call me Tails." Tails said, growing more confused by the minute.

"I look forward to working with you Tails. My name is... hm, I can't seem to remember. That happens sometimes, I think I wrote it down... somewhere." "Tails?" The alicorn tensed at Gregory's voice.

"Can't let him figure out whats going on. Don't worry, I'll be in touch, just pretend you don't know what's going on." The alicorn instructed.

Tails wouldn't need to pretend, he really didn't understand what was happening. When Gregory opened the door, the alicorn let out a feral hiss and pounced on Tails, pretending to attack him.

"Don't touch my numbers!" The alicorn screamed, tackling Tails into the wall, "I need my numbers to escape! Don't touch them!"

Gregory pulled Tails out the door and slammed the alicorn's door shut. "I'm so sorry about that my friend. She hasn't been herself in quite awhile. She used to be a princess you know, but after she lost her battle, she never really realized that she'd lost. She seems to think that she's still fighting the good fight, when in actuality, the fight has been over for quite some time."

Gregory gave Tails a sly smile, "I wonder how your battle will turn out. Only time will tell I suppose." Gregory gave another chuckle and continued to show Tails to his room. These words got Tails thinking, but now as much as the words that the alicorn had whispered in his ear before Gregory pulled him out of the room.

"Tell Nekozombie that I miss him."


	3. Night 3

_I have a horrible feeling, but I can't tell why. I think there's more things wrong with this place than the mad mare._

Gregory opened the door to Tails' room. The inside looked like an ordinary hotel room, but something about it didn't sit right with Tails. The logical side of his brain told him that everything was fine, but some ancient instinct told him to run.

The logical half won out, and Tails entered the room. There was a crumpled up piece of paper on the floor. Tails went to see what it was, but Gregory snatched it before he could.

"Oh, don't mind that my friend. Just some useless clutter left behind by this room's former inhabitant." Gregory said. Tails' mind flashed back to the mad mare; it was just a feeling though. Then he remembered her request.

"Um, do you know who Nekozombie is?" Tails asked. Gregory's eyes widened slightly in suspicion, but then his grin returned. "Nekozombie is the guessed in the room next to yours. I would advise against contacting him though, he doesn't play well with others. He's had a hard life."

Gregory explained how Nekozombie's face had been sewn shut like a patchwork quilt. The story horrified Tails, and Gregory grinned at his expression. "Oh, I'm sure nothing like that will happen to you my friend. Just be sure to keep your door locked at night."

Tails walked over and examined the bed. It seemed relatively normal, but there seemed to be something under the pillow. Reaching underneath it, Tails found another piece of crumpled paper.

"What's that?" Gregory asked, "Have you found something?" There was something in Gregory's voice that Tails didn't trust. "No, nothing at all." Tails lied, unsure why he was trying to protect a piece of trash.

Gregory expression showed that he didn't believe Tails, but he smiled all the same. "Very well. You should get some sleep my friend." Gregory exited the room, closing the door behind him. "I hope you enjoy your stay."

It must have been Tails imagination, but he could've sworn he heard Gregory say, "Forever." Followed by that laugh of his.


	4. Night 4

_I knew there was something off about this place from the start, but I still don't know who I can really trust._

Tails uncrumpled the piece of paper. On it were several drawings of equine creatures with different names scribbled on them. _It must have belonged to the mad mare, _Tails thought.

Looking closer, Tails noticed a single sentence that was repeated across the paper on both sides, the handwriting getting sloppier and sloppier until it was unreadable. Looking at one that was legible, Tails read the sentence: My name is Twilight Sparkle.

Tails could only guess that 'Twilight' was the mad mare's name. Tails hesitantly stepped outside his room and walked to the door next to his. The door looked more like the door to a vault than the door to a hotel bedroom. Tails reached out and knocked slowly.

There was a low grumbling inside, like an animal dying. "So your the new guest huh?" A quiet, weak voice said. "Y-yes, I just arrived here. I'll be leaving in the morning." Tails said. This was met with a sad chuckled, "Sure you will."

Tails was nervous enough about speaking to the half-dead feline, and his words weren't helping. "I... met an alicorn, I think her name is Twilight. She asked me to tell you that she missed you."

Nekozombie made a pained sound, like he was trying to walk on an injured limb. "I... I miss her to." "What happened to her?" Tails asked.

"The same thing that happened to the rest of them. The same thing that'll happen to you if you don't play your cards right," Nekozombie said, "The House got to her."

"What do you mean?" Tails questioned, growing more worried every second. "This house doesn't let guests leave. They try to make you give up on going back to the real world. You do know that your not in the real world right?"

This was news to Tails. "If I'm not in the real world, than where am I?" Nekozombie laughed. Doing so seemed to hurt him, and make him cough. "Isn't that just the question? For as long as this house has been around, no one, not even Gregory, could say for sure how it came to be. I figure if anyone did, they'd probably have the way out in the palm of their hands."

Tails felt a glimmer of hope. "I excel in figuring how things work." Nekozombie sighed, "So did Twilight."

Nekozombie told Tails how hard Twilight had fought. How much work she'd done to escape, only to have it all amount to losing everything. "Now she can't even think right. They got her soul when her guard was down. When she was trying to help me; that's when they got her. You still have a chance, they all do at first. Just remember this, if you ever escape Gregory House, you do it alone. You can't afford to care for anyone here, no matter what. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes, and if you can't handle being the bad guy from time to time, well, just look at Twilight."

Tails was a logical person. That said, he'd also experienced magic that bent time, machines that re-wrote reality, alternate dimensions, and a plethora of magic that he couldn't understand for the life of him. He could except that a place as twisted as Gregory House existed, and he could except that it had targeted him. But he couldn't wrap his mind around needing to be ruthless. Surely he could find a way to escape without spilling blood. Surely there was a machine he could build to save the day.

But the more Nekozombie told him about the House's dark past, about a man named Steven Haniwa, about a girl turned into a rat, about countless lives rotted, he couldn't help but wonder if he could even handle leaving his room again, knowing that such warped guests could be waiting for him.


	5. Night 5

_I saw the strangest creature I'd ever seen in my life. And the thing that made it all the stranger, was that I recognized it._

"Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy! Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

Tails heard the chanting coming down the hall, occupied by a metallic clicking, like a train sliding down a rail.

Tails curiously opened his door and stepped into the hall to see who was chanting. "Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy! Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

Tails looked to see what looked like a man chained to the ceiling. His face looked beaten, and his body was bent into a human scale; with lanterns carrying a dollar sign and a heart rather than weights. He glided through the hall on a mechanism that attached him to the ceiling.

"Do you know, who I am? I am Judgment Boy! Judgment!" He said, coming to a stop in front of Tails. Judgment Boy smiled down at Tails. "You are taking a test to join the royal army. You are asked the question: do the ends justify the means? What are you going to do?"

Tails didn't know what to make of what was happening. This figure in front of him looked like a something out of nightmare. And despite how surprised Tails was by its horrifying appearance, he got the feeling that he'd seen it somewhere before.

"What are you going to do?" Judgment Boy asked again. "I… say that the ends don't justify the means." Tails answered. Judgment Boy's grin widened, "So you say, but I say we consult the balance of truth!"

Judgment Boy began to spin like a top, the lanterns almost hitting Tails. "Judgment, now!" Judgment Boy stopped spinning. The glowing dollar sign dropped from the lantern, shattering on the floor. Judgment Boy, leaning to the side as he was weighed down by the heart that didn't drop, grinned at Tails.

"You tell them that the ends do not justify the means. And yet, when the time comes, you choose to kill an innocent girl for the sake of the greater good. You save the world, but her blood will forever be on your hands. It was your choice; you have to live with it."

Before Tails could say anything, Judgment Boy shot off down the hall, still chanting, "Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy! Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

"Oh my," Tails turned to see Gregory walking down the hall, "I can't believe you would do such a thing my friend. Still, I suppose, in the end, it had to be done." Gregory chuckles and continued off down the hall.

_Innocent… blood on my hands… they couldn't mean… _Tails' mind began to race as he tried to convince himself that it was just a coincidence; they couldn't actually know what he'd done… could they?

Tails shook his head. "This is madness." He said to himself. Then it hit him, _madness. _He knew where he'd seen Judgment Boy before.

Tails rushed through the halls to Twilight's room. After convincing her that he wasn't Gregory, Twilight let Tails inside. Tails looked across the nonsensical drawings spread out across the room. He recognized several as Nekozombie.

Then he found the one he knew he'd seen before. A crude drawing of Judgment Boy, the words 'love or money, he always wins' scribbled on it.

It made sense that Twilight would have encountered the human scale before. But he looked around her room, Tails saw several drawings of other nightmarish creatures, all of whom he was obliged to assume were guests at Gregory House.

Tails was in a house full of monsters. And they knew his secrets.


	6. Night 6

_This place was full of monsters to begin with, but now they're after me specifically._

Tails creped quietly through the halls. He didn't try flight, fearing that the noise would alert another of the guests to his presence.

All he had to do was make it to the front door, get outside, and find the X Tornado. Tails would be able to repair it at least to the point that he could make it home. After that, he'd let G.U.N and Sonic know about this place.

But he had to be quiet. If another guest stopped him, he might not make it out of Gregory House at all.

He reached the stairs. He'd have to risk flying down because he knew from what Twilight had told him that each one would either squeak loudly or causing him to fall down the rest. Tails gently drifted down, moving his tails as slowly as possible to keep from making too much noise.

When he reached the floor, the old boards groaned. Tails froze and waited. When nothing happened, Tails continued on. Tails turned the corner and was immediately face to face with another guest.

He looked human, but his stomach was extended beyond the point that a human body could go. His neck was lined with what looked like gills that dripped trickles of slime. The most disturbing part feature was the oversized cigar. It was about the length of Tails' arm, and was jutting out of the man's throat.

"Who exactly are you?" He asked. His eyes were bulbous, and looking directly at them made Tails feel sick. "I-I'm Miles Prower, but people call me Tails." Tails said instinctually. Then, remembering what Twilight had told him, tried to hurry past the fish man.

Before he could, a large dead fish roughly four feet long dropped in front of him, blocking his path. Tails looked to see that the fish man was wielding the dead fish by its tail, as though it were a weapon. Tails could see the words 'Sweet Dreams' written on the dead fish.

"Look here, Miles Prower, your showin' an awful lot of disrespect for Big Tuna," The fish man, Big Tuna, said, "Don't you know who I am?" "No." Tails answered simply, trying to think of a way around him. He could always fly over him, but then he might get hit with the dead fish.

"What!? You tellin' me you never heard of Big Tuna?! I'm the most powerful crime boss around! You know why it says 'Sweet Dreams' on my fish here?" Big Tuna asked. Tails shook his head no, stalling for time.

"Because when I hit you with it, you'll find yourself sleepin' with the fishes!" Big Tuna explained, raising his weapon.

Tails saw his opportunity. He whirred his tails as fast as he could and rocketed under Big Tuna, tripping him up as he did so. Big Tuna landed on his face as Tails shot down the hall. Behind him Tails could hear Big Tuna. "You just made a big mistake bub! Big Tuna's got eyes everywhere! I'm calling a hit on you, you hear me? Your dead!"

Tails ignored the fish man's threats; he had to focus on getting to the door.

Unfortunately, when he got to the door, there was someone waiting. Tails had to struggle to avoid the brown cloaked figure leaning against the front door. He came to a stop five feet away.

"Aw, so you have arrived. At least you have the courage to face me like a man!" The man through off his cloaking, revealing skin that was green and prickled like a cactus.

_Cactus Gunman, _Tails thought, remembering what Twilight had told him. _"I'm not sure if he's a good or bad shooter, but he's always deadly with a gun."_

Tails gulped as the Cactus Gunman drew his hand gun and aimed it at him. "Wh-what's this all about?" Tails questioned. Twilight had explained that, though the Cactus Gunman was just as mad as the others, he never drew on someone without a reason. The reasons didn't always make sense, but if you knew why he was after you, you could turn him on someone else.

"I'm surprised you don't know amigo, there's a bounty on you. Big Tuna's offering one million dollars to whoever brings him your head." Cactus Gunman explained. Tails gasped, _That was just a few minutes ago, he couldn't have spread it that fast, it doesn't make any sense!_

"_Get used to things not making sense." _Twilight had warned him, but he'd expected there to be a certain element of logic to it all. As Tails starred down the barrel of Cactus Gunman's pistol, he saw the mistake in thinking this.

"So hows this going to be? Are you going to surrender? Or do we duel?" The Cactus Gunman asked. Tails put his hands up in a sign of surrender, only to jettison himself into the air the moment Cactus Gunman lowered his gun.

In the air, Tails was easily able to avoid the Gunman's shots, but he couldn't get to the door. Regretfully, Tails flew back to his room as quickly as possible.

On his way back, he saw several posters hung all throughout the halls of Gregory House. It had a picture of Tails' face, and a caption that read: **Dead or Alive, $100,000,000.**

Big Tuna really had called a hit on him. Tails had thought he could escape so long as no one was paying attention to him. But now everyone would be watching him.


	7. Night 7

_I fear I may be losing my mind. I know that the guests of this house are out to get me, but could my past be haunting me as well?_

Tails crept quietly through the hall. He'd spent the last few hours with Twilight. She'd been helping him memorize the guests and their powers so he would know who to look out for; that is, when she could keep her broken mind focused.

Tails felt more confident now that he knew more about the guests, but he still didn't want to have to face one if he didn't have to.

As Tails walked down the hall, he heard footsteps behind him echoing his. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be chasing him, it was walking at the same pace as he was. He tensed and increased his pace, not wanting to accidentally provoke whatever guest was trailing him.

Tails paused instinctively when he heard the footsteps increase to match his. When he stopped, the guest stopped as well. Tails could hear them start walking again when he did.

All at once, Tails took off running. The ceiling was too low for flight, but he ran as fast as he could, trying to get back to his room before the guest caught up to him.

He rounded corners, dodged passed Gregory, and finally reached the door to his room. Only when the door was open and he was half-way inside did he cast a glance back to see which guest had been following him.

He froze solid when he saw the emerald green hair. The flowing flower-like dress. The endless blue eyes that he could stare into forever.

_Cosmo._

Tails didn't even close the door, just ran towards her. He didn't know why she was there, how she was there, and he couldn't say he really cared. Cosmo was there.

But she turned the corner. She ran, just as Tails had moments before. "Cosmo wait!" Tails called after her. He could hear her, she sounded like she was crying. _Is it because I ran from her? _"Cosmo please stop! I didn't know!" Tails cried out, trying desperately to catch up to his love.

But she was moving too fast. She was down the stairs and around the corner. Tails couldn't keep up. "Wait!" Tails pleaded, nearly in tears.

To his relief, Cosmo did stop. She stood at the end of the hallway, as though waiting for Tails. His chest was heaving, but he didn't care, he kept running. The hall seemed longer than it had before, but that didn't matter either. Cosmo was there, that's what mattered.

Tails couldn't have said if it took him two minutes or two hours to reach the end of the hall. All he knew for certain was that when he did, he was all but sobbing with happiness.

He collapsed in front of Cosmo, his legs having given out. "Cosmo, how-how are you here?" Tails asked. When no answer came, Tails looked up. A jolt of nightmarish dread cut through the fox as he looked up at an empty hallway, with nothing in front of him but a potted rose on a shelf.

The flower looked dry and dead, and the sight of it made Tails sick.

"Oh my, what's wrong my friend?" Gregory's voice asked. Tails flinched at the voice. "I-I thought I saw…" Was all Tails could get out before he began sobbing.

"Oh don't fret my friend, it was just some kind of illusion. Ah, here's the culprit." Gregory said, gesturing with his candle to the dead rose. "You know, when a rose dies, it gives people nightmares. I'll just destroy it for you."

Gregory brought his candle to the flower. The flames caught and burned the rose up in mere seconds. "There, I'm sure everything will be fine now. It really is a shame when something beautiful has to be destroyed, but sometimes, it's for the best. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that." Gregory chuckled, walking off and leaving Tails to wonder what he meant.


	8. Night 8

_I should have just kept going, but there didn't seem to be any harm. It's not a mistake I'll make a second time._

Tails had heard from Twilight that the one called Clock Master was harmless.

"_He may well have been as dangerous a guessed as all the others at some point," Twilight had said, "but now he's little more than a drunk. He even tries to be helpful. Not that there's much he can do."_

It was this information that led Tails to seek out the ruler of time at the bar. _Even if there isn't much he can do, every alley helps, _Tails thought.

Inside the bar, Tails saw Gregory behind the counter. He saw what he could only assume were goons from Big Tuna, based on their fish-like appearance. _I'll have to be careful, not that I wouldn't have otherwise._

Tails knew that trying to rush in and out as fast as possible would only serve to get him unwanted attention, so he forced himself to enter the bar slowly and carefully; as though he were just there for a drink.

He paused when he saw Clock Master. Sure, he'd seen pictures of him from Twilight, but to see him in person was something else.

A living clock, with the power to control time.

Tails took a seat across from Clock Master. "Eh? Who... oh, you're the new (hic) guest." Clock Master said. "Yes, my name is Miles Prower, people call me Tails, and I was wondering if you could help me." Tails stated, keeping his voice low.

"I'm afraid I'm no help to anyone anymore." Clock Master said ruefully. "Please, I'm desperate. Even if your powers aren't working properly-" This was as far as Tails got before Clock Master let out a sob.

"I used to be the ruler of time! Now look at me! Nothing more than a drunkard with too many warps to work with!" Clock Master cried out sorrowfully. _Warps, maybe…_

"Clock Master, I'm good with machines. I'm not altogether sure how you work, but maybe I could try and fix your warps." Tails said. Clock Master stooped sobbing and looked at Tails in shock. "You think you can fix my warps? Bring back my powers? Make me the ruler of time again?"

"Maybe. I can't promise anything, I've never worked on a living machine before. There was Metal Sonic, but he was a robot. You're more… organic. But if nothing else I might be able to help." Tails explained.

Clock Master stood excitedly, "Well what are we waiting for? Time is of the essence!"

* * *

Tails still had a few of his tools with him. He kept them hidden under his bed for fear of Gregory or one of the other's taking them away. He had Clock Master sit in a chair while he examined him. it was strange work, dealing with principles alien to Tails. And he loved.

He knew full well how dangerous it was, but the opportunity to work on a living machine made Tails grin even with all the danger that came with it.

He went to work. Much like he always did when working on the X Tornado, Tails fell into a sort of working trance. It could've been hours or minutes and he wouldn't have known.

"So how do you feel?" Tails asked when he though he had all the warps smoothed out and all the gears realigned. "Better than I have in quite a long time!" Clock Master announced. "I bet I could go back farther now then I could've even before I became a drunkard. Let's test it shall we? Wind me up."

Tails, eager to see if his repairs had worked, began winding Clock Master's key. When the key wouldn't turn anymore, he let it go. And the world began to spin.

* * *

_Where… where am I? How far back did Clock Master send me? _"Oh no, dear boy, you have to believe me, I didn't mean to bring you here." Clock Master said from the corner of the ship. _Ship?_

Tails looked around. He was indeed on a ship, drifting through space. This was the ship he's been on with Cosmo. Did that mean… could it be that she was still alive?

"Tails, you have to fire." Tails looked up at the scene before him, and the color drained from his face. The Meterex. Cosmo was holding him down, urging Tails to shoot. _But I won't, not this time. _Tails thought relieved, _I can bring her back._

But even as he thought it, his hands moved to fire. He tried to pull them back, but he wasn't in control. He fired, destroying the Meterex. And killing Cosmo. Again.

Tails broke down crying. It was the same thing he'd done the first time around. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to send you here." Clock Master said desperately.

Tails looked up at the Clock Master, his sorrow turning to rage. He'd planned this. Twilight was wrong, he was working with Gregory, same as the others!

"Please, I didn't want this!" Clock Master begged as Tails tackled him, yanking at his key. Tails picked up his tools and began unscrewing, scratching, and breaking.

When he looked up, he was back in his room at Gregory House, and Clock Master was broken again. The former ruler of time ran from Tails' room in fear.

Tails looked at his hands, seeing his tool, the damage he'd just done to Clock Master. He couldn't trust anyone.


	9. Night 9

_There are voices trying to lure me from my room, but I can't tell which are real, which are figments of my imagination._

Tails had locked himself inside his room since the Clock Master incident. He had food and water from various raids, so he didn't really have any reason to leave. This way, he could just stay safe and keep planning.

"You've been inside there for quite some time my friend, perhaps you'd like to come out and visit with some of the other guests?" Gregory's voice came from behind the door.

"No." Tails answered simply, not looking up from his design. He was working on a time machine based on Clock Master's mechanics. It seemed fool-proof, if he could balance the equations. _Not sure where I'll get the material, but-_

"Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!" Tails didn't open the door, he didn't even move from his chair.

"You are a guest at a hotel. Every step you take leads to another disaster, even if not for you. Now, what are you going to do?" Tails didn't respond to Judgment Boy's question, just kept working on his design, hoping he would go away.

"Judgment, now!" There was a shatter from outside. Which fell, the heart or the dollar sign, Tails didn't know. And he wasn't sure he really cared. "It was your choice, now you have to live with it. Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

Tails heard Judgment Boy slide off down the hall. He briefly considered opening the door to see what had dropped, but decided against it. Didn't matter, and it wouldn't be any better either way.

"You in there Two Tails?" Tails recognized the voice of Big Tuna from behind the door. "I hear you've been keeping yourself cooped up in your room. Probably for the best. After all, if you ever leave, you might have an 'accident'."

Tails heard Big Tuna and what must have been his goons lumber off down the hall. _Just another reason to stay out, _Tails thought.

"T-Tails?" The voice from behind the door belonged to Twilight. Tails didn't understand why she sounded so panicked. Then he remembered Twilight's plan of only remaining still within her room, and moving at breakneck speeds when outside. Staying still outside the door must be terrifying the mad mare.

"Y-you haven't been around in a while. I started wondering if Gregory had gotten you, to stop you from helping with my plan." Twilight said. Tails didn't respond.

"Tails?" Twilight called, her voice filling with dread, "Hello? Oh no not you to!" Tails sighed, "I'm still here Twilight; Gregory hasn't gotten me yet."

"Oh thank Celestia, you had me worried there for a second," Twilight said, relieved, "Come on, let's get back to the plan." "I can't help you with your plan anymore." Tails said.

"W-why not?" Twilight questioned. "Because I can't leave my room, not anymore. It's too dangerous. And besides," Tails added gravely, "I don't think your plan would work anyway. I don't think there are any numbers out there that will get everyone to safety like you want."

"D-don't s-say that!" Twilight sputtered, "We have to keep going, to figure it out! We have to save them!" "I don't think we can save them," Tails said, then, remembering what happened with Clock Master, he added, "And I'm not sure we should."

Twilight gasped, "I-I can't believe…" She trailed off, too upset to think, and darted off down the hall back to her room.

Tails sighed and returned to his design. "It isn't gonna work you know."

Tails looked up. This voice hadn't come from outside his door, it had come from passed the far wall. _Nekozombie. _Tails realized. "What won't?" He questioned, though he feared he already knew the answer.

"Staying locked up, hiding away, working on a plan that you know you'll never finish. Didn't work for Twilight, and it won't work for you." Nekozombie said.

Tails groaned is exasperation, "Then what am I supposed to do?" Tails questioned. "How should I know? I'm just a house cat caught in a rat's trap," Nekozombie said, "But I know you aren't getting out acting like this. I couldn't tell you how many I've seen fail because they decided they needed to hide. That's why I'm still here."

Tails looked around the room. With all the crumpled and discarded papers from failed calculations for his design, his room was starting to look like Twilight's. Not a good sign.

_Nekozombie is right. Sonic and I never won any battles before by hiding ourselves away. _Then Tails got an idea. Sonic would most certainly be able to find his way out of here. He always found his way out of bad situations. So… _What would Sonic do?_


	10. Night 10

_I've been looking at this all wrong. You can't outsmart something that doesn't run on logic. But sometimes you can outrun it._

Tails sped down the hall, both tails spinning at full speed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd flown this fast outside of a plane.

He only made one stop. He spin kicked Twilight's door open, grabbing the Mad Mare and speeding back up down the hall.

Tails could tell Twilight was trying to cast a spell of some kind, likely to figure out what Tails was doing, but he didn't slow. He couldn't.

Tails didn't slow when he saw Big Tuna's goons. He sped up, slamming into them and sending them scattering without slowing. Nor did he stop when he saw Judgment Boy coming towards him. Tails couldn't say for sure, but he thought he may have actually knocked the living scale off his rails.

Tails, really for the first time since Cosmo, was having fun. He nearly forgot to aim down at the staircase, and slmost crashed into the wall.

Tails, according to his timing, had made it to the front room in only twelve point seven seconds. Fourteen flat after he stopped for Twilight. He'd be sure to brag later.

"Going for a run my friend? Or, eh, a fly?" Gregory's voice made him pause. "Oh my," Gregory continued, seeing Twilight, "A romantic flight I see. Good to see your moving on." That chuckle of his, mixed with that gleam when he said 'moving on'... It just plain annoyed Tails.

Tails leg go of Twilight's hoof just long enough to sucker punch Gregory, sending the mouse over the counter. Tails reached for Twilight again, but she backed up.

"Explanations." Twilight demanded. "We're leaving." Tails replied simply.

Twilights eyes widened. "L-leaving?! You balanced the numbers?!" Tails shook his head. "For once, we're forgetting the numbers. The numbers are a trick, probably one of his." Tails pointed to Gregory.

"Faulty numbers?" Twilight looked in awe, "Faulty number! By Celestia that's low! You worthless little-" Tails pulled Twilight away from Gregory before she could blast him. "No time. We're leaving. We'll be back for the others."

"But he said that there is no way back when once your out." Twilight said. "He also said he was trying to help. I get the feeling he isn't the most trustworthy of sources." Tails explained.

Twilight thought for a moment, the face palmed, or face hoofed rather. "I should've known!" "Worry about that later. Right now..." Tails grabbed her hoof again, and they flew out the door.

Twilight spread her wings to fly as well. She wasn't nearly fast enough to make a different, but with her wings out they glided faster through the night air.


	11. Night 11

_We're working together, we WILL eescape. But I don't dare think for a second that it'll be easy._

Tails and Twilight flew for what seemed like hours, but there was no way of telling how far they'd gotten. Eventually they returned to the ground, needing to rest.

They couldn't risk actually stopping and taking a break, so their 'rest' was actually just them walking rather than flying. The forest didn't help their nerves, the crooked branches of the trees indistinguishable from claws outstretched to grab them.

Tails explained to Twilight that he planned on finding his plane, at which point he'd fly them both away from this god awful forest and then send Twilight home through Chaos Control.

Trying to explain what Chaos Control and chaos energy were probed to be something akin to trying to crush rocks with his face, so eventually Tails just told Twilight that it was another form a magic.

They were probably going for hours when they saw something that made both their blood run cold: Gregory House in the distance.

"W-we didn't turn," Twilight said nervously, "We've been going straight forward this whle time. We couldn't have circled back." "It's this place." Tails said, "It doesn't follow normal rules."

"Then how are we supposed to escape!?" Twilight questioned, breathing harder as she began to panicked, "I don't know how long Ive been here Tails. I thought it was only a few weeks, but the clearer I start thinking, I can remember months of this, maybe even years. I don't know what to do!"

"Calm down Twilight." Tails said. "No! Do not tell me to calm down! We're in forest in another demintion run by a psychopathic rat! We're gonna die here Tails! No, i's worse than that! I MET Death! We won't even be allowed to escape then! We're going to be stuck here forever!"

"Twilight, you need to calm down!" Tails said sternly, "your getting grayer."

Twilight paused, looking down at herself, seeing that her body was in fact getting a deeper shade of gray, spreading out from her fallen flag mark on her flank. "Gregory has a stronger hold on you than me," Tails said, "you didn't always have that mark did you?"

Twilight shook her head, "I...I don't think so...I know I had a mark before, a symbol of my abilities, but I can't remember what it looked like. What...What happened to it?"

"I'd be willing to bet that a certain rat removed and replaced it. Probably has it under lock and key." Tails said. Twilight nodded, "He must be using this mark to keep me here, to keep me trapped."

Tails thought for a moment, "You can't leave as long as you don't have your original mark. I guess that means we'll just have to get it back."


	12. Night 12

_Twilight is bound here, she needs her mmark to escape. I'm not about to leave her here. I've got a hunch on where her mark is._

Tails and Twilight walked through the door into Gregory House. GGregory grinned, a look that would seem innocent to most, but the malice was obvious to Tails and Twilight.

"Well, have you had a nice midnight stroll?" Gregory asked. Tails nodded, smiling, "yes we did. Very calming to go for a walk, puts things in perspective. I'm terribly sorry for my behavior earlier, I was going a bit stir crazy."

"Oh it's quite alright my friend, it happens to the best of us." Gregory said with a chuckle. "Will you be returning to your room?" Tails and Twilight nodded, "we're both really tired. It's probably best for both of us if we just get some sleep."

Gregory grinned wider, "I quite agree. You'll both feel much better in the morning." Tails and Twilight nodded again, and went down the hall.

"Did you get it?" Tails asked. Twilight nodded, levitating up Gregory's keyring. "My magic may not be all what it used to, but levitating is easy."

The two moved fast, passing their own rooms and heading directly to Gregory's. Twilight took the keys and unlocked the door. "We'll need to move fast, no telling how long it'll take him to notice."

The two entered Gregory's room, feeling an aura of dread as they did. "So this is the rat hole.." Twilight said. The room looked much the same as any of the other rooms, but with a poster of a half naked anthropomorphic rat over the bed and a desk in the corner of the room.

Tails and Twilight made a bee-line for the desk. They found several things among the drawers, money, magazines, bones, a list of guests, a list of guest's names before Gregory House, a list of guests 'reason for escaping', a list Tails crumpled up and tossed aside when he saw his name next to the phrase 'murdered his true love'.

"And I though Robotnik was sadistic." Tails said spitefully. They'd checked every drawer except one, one that was bolt locked. It was a simple matter for Tails to pick the lock, but both he and Twilight were nervous about what was in the drawer.

After taking a pause to steel themselves, both of them pulled the drawer open together. The drawer looked empty, save for a small hole in the bottom with a note reading 'deposit souls here'.

Tails gulped, and reached into the hole. Almost immediately he was pulled inside, as though gravity was increasing within the hole. Twilight grabbed onto Tails to try and pull him out, but instead they were both sucked into the hole.

They fell through a hole in the ceiling of another room, landing next to a large shelf with glass jars, making them all rattle on the shelf.

"Where are we?" Tails questioned, looking around. Twilight looked on in awe. "It's a room full of souls..."


	13. Night 13

_So many souls...how many tried to escape? How many failed? Have any really succeeded? How could we ever get ourselves free if so many before us never could?_

Tails and Twilight looked around the room, seeing shelf after shelf of glass jars, glowing inside with the light of what the two could only assume were the souls of those who'd failed to free themselves from Gregory House.

"This...this is horrible.." Was all Twilight could say as she looked over the many jars. "There are so many...why do this to so many? What could they possibly want with our souls?"

Tails shook his head, "Don't try to make sense of what happens in this place. The more it starts to make sense, the less sane you'll become." Twilight nodded, "Your probably right...it's just.."

"I know." Tails said, looking mournfully at the souls. "But we've gotta find yours, and fast. I don't wanna know what happens to those souls after they're locked up."

The two of them began looking over the souls, seeing the different colors of each, the different shapes. No two looked, moved, or felt the same. Like snowflakes, each was just the slightest bit different from the ones before and after it. Tails was fascinated, but couldn't let himself focus on the sights for two long, knowing he and Twilight needed to move fast.

"Tails..I don't see my mark anywhere in here." Twilight said, an edge of panic in her voice. "It has to be here somewhere, we just have to-" Tails stopped when he heard movement from outside the room. Tails and Twilight darted to one of the shelves, ducking behind them as the door opened.

Tails couldn't help looking between the jars, seeing a rat-like figure, female, and old as dirt, walking through the room, grumbling to herself. Twilight sealed her lips to stop herself from whimpering at the sight. "Do you know who that is?" Tails asked as quietly as he could manage. Twilight nodded, abject fear in her eyes.

"She's the unknown, the one I could never find information on no matter how many notes I made. All I could get was a name. The guests just call her...Momma Gregory. She's the one that even Gregory fears.."

Something that even Gregory was afraid of? Tails hadn't thought such a thing could exist. He turned, watching the crone sit in a chain at the back of the room and reach to the basket next to it, retrieving a jar like the ones on the shelf. Momma Gregory opened the jar, licking her lips. Tails and Twilight looked on in horror as she seemed to drink the soul out of the jar, sighing in satisfaction afterward.

"Another soul, another few years younger I look." Momma Gregory said with a chuckle that made Gregory's sound pleasant. "That's what their taking the souls for? To feed to her? To help her look good?!' Tails gripped the edge of the shelf angrily, and for the first time was truly glad that he had no dark form like Sonic and Shadow did; as he most certainly would've lost his cool by this point.

Twilight on the other hand, did appear to be losing it. She glared at Momma Gregory through the shelf, literally steam coming from her nose. "Twilight, calm down, she's going to see you!" Tails warned as quietly as he could, but it was too late. Twilight left from their hiding place, mane now burning red and orange like fire.

"How dare you!?" Twilight questioned, her voice booming with power. Tails hadn't known Twilight had this much power hidden in her. He could practically feel the magical energy coming off of her. It was impressive, but Tails feared it was about to get them both killed.


	14. Night 14

_I hate to say it, but is it wrong to leave so many souls behind if me and Twilight can escape? I feel terrible... but I want to go home, and I promised Twilight._

"What the devil is going on here?" Mamma Gregory questioned at the sight of Twilight and her odd, burning form.

Twilight didn't even respond, firing a glowing bolt of energy at Mamma Gregory, sending her away from the chair and through the nearby wall. The soul jars went everywhere, several shattering along the way. Tails was worried when he saw the first glass jar break, but felt an odd sense of...right-ness from it. As though letting the jars break was a good thing.

'Maybe it frees them.' Tails thought to himself, snapping out of it when he saw a particular purple light coming from one of the scattered jars. His eyes widened when he saw the mark inside, one that matched the mark Twilight had shown him.

Tails grabbed the jar quickly, "Twilight, I got it!" He said, "Let's go before she comes back!"

Twilight didn't budge, her flame mane not dying down. She turned to the closest shelf of soul jars, and blasted a wave of magic; systematically incinerating the jars. The souls floated up, vanishing through the ceiling, proving Tails' theory.

Twilight turned to the next, and blasted it down as well, then the next and the next. "Twilight we have to go!" Tails said nervously, looking at the hole in the wall and wondering how long they had.

"We have to save them. They've been trapped here for Celestia knows how long, most of their bodies have rotted away by this point, the least they deserve is the opportunity to pass on." Twilight said, blasting the next shelf.

"I know that Twilight, but we don't have the time to rescue them all. She could be back any minute, and next time she won't be off her guard." Tails said.

Twilight blasted another shelf, and then stopped, as though frozen. Slowly, she began to revert back to her normal form, eyes watering. "Why? Why does it have to be like this?" She questioned, beginning to sob.

_How dare you!_

Tails wasn't sure Twilight had heard the voice, as he himself hadn't so much heard it as felt it, but he knew it wasn't good. He wanted to help and console her, but he settled for saving her life; taking her hoof and fleeing the room with her.


	15. Night 15

_I read through Twilight's account of her stay before she lost her soul. She made all the right decisions, and failed. Does that mean making the wrong decisions is the only way out?_

Tails and Twilight fled down the hall, not stopping until they had reached Tails' room. They closed and locked the door behind them, and sank to the floor, panting. After several minutes of catching their breath and making sure they hadn't been followed, Twilight began to cry.

"W-we just left them there…all those souls…and she's j-just going to…eat them!" Twilight said, breathing speeding up as she began to get hysterical. "H-how could w-we just…"

"Twilight, calm down." Tails said, trying to keep her steady, something he knew would be difficult when he heard a particular voice outside the door.

"Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

Twilight and Tails both tensed up. Tails put his back to the wall, resolving not to open it even to check until he was certain he was gone.

"Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

"Tails, he's getting closer." Twilight said nervously. "The door is locked, so long as we keep it that way, he can't get in." Tails said.

"Do you know, who I am? They call me Judgment Boy!"

This time the voice was getting softer, indicating Judgment Boy heading away from Tails' room as opposed to going towards it. Tails and Twilight sighed, "We've got your soul back." Tails said, "All we have to do is make a break for it. Once we're outside, we'll open the jar so your soul will return to you, and then we're getting out of here. Okay?"

Twilight nodded, though her legs were shaking and she looked terrible. "Alright, let's go." Tails said when the voice had faded.

"Judgment!"

Judgment Boy dropped seemingly from nowhere the instant Tails and Twilight were outside the room. He was blocking their path, and the door slammed shut behind them.

"You're after the soul of a friend, but she's too busy trying to free the other lost souls so they can avoid a terrible fate. Do you help her free the souls, or do you ignore all those innocent lives?" Judgment Boy questioned.

Twilight began sobbing again, and Tails' jaw clenched. "Cat got your tongue?" Judgment Boy asked with a grin, "No matter, judgment now!"

Judgment Boy started to spin, but when he stopped... neither the heart nor the gold fell. Even Judgment Boy seemed shocked, and he knew what it meant.

"You chose to save your friend and her soul, leaving the others behind. Congratulations on taking the road you so ignored the last time you were met with this choice. Let's just hope it was worth it." And with that, Judgment Boy turned and sped off down the hall, continuing his chant.

"W-what was that?" Twilight questioned. "That," Tails said, grabbing the cork keeping Twilight's soul in the glass jar, "Was a sign that we're on the right track." As he spoke, Tails removed the cork, letting the glimmering light within the jar shoot out and hit Twilight.

As the light washed over her, the last of the gray vanished from Twilight's body, the mark on her flank returning the star it had previously been.

Twilight smiled, looking almost ready to cry. "Thank me later. Right now," Tails grabbed Twilight's hoof, "We've gotta run."

"No," Twilight corrected, spreading her wings, which seemed to shimmer with power and prestige, "Now, we've gotta fly!"

They were out the front door before Gregory was even aware it was them.


	16. Night 16

_No more turning around. Twilight has her soul, I never lost mine, and we are leaving. I don't even care if it's on the X Tornado anymore. We. Are. Leaving._

Tails and Twilight didn't touch the ground for more than an hour. She flew much faster now, her wings seeming to spread further. She was almost able to keep up with Tails at top speed, which he'd never seen anyone do without aid of some kind of tech.

When they did touchdown, it was in a clearing they'd spotted from above. They were both breathless form how fast they'd been moving, but they knew they couldn't afford to stop altogether and rest. They stayed standing, back to back to make sure nothing could get to them

"How does it feel to have your soul back?" Tails asked, as he hadn't had the chance before. "And your cutie mark?"

"It feels great." Twilight said, giving Tails a smile, then getting back on guard when they heard a sound coming from just outside the clearing.

"La, la, la, la, la~, la, la, la, la, la~!"

The tune sounded…sad, mournful even, but that didn't stop Twilight from preparing a spell and Tails from preparing to attack (he wasn't the biggest fan of physical fighting, but when it came down to it he could still do a spin-dash if needed).

As the two watched, a small, blue faced man stumbled into the clearing. He didn't look hostile, and didn't even seem to be aware of the fact that Tails and Twilight were there.

He continued to sing, unaware of Tails and Twilight's presence. When he turned, noticing them for the first time, he flinched; as though he were more afraid of them.

"Please don't hurt me! Not again! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The man pleaded, beginning to cry. This caught their attention.

"We aren't going to hurt you." Tails said, "We're just looking for a way out." "Really?" He seemed shocked by this. "Does that mean...you don't hate my music?"

"Honestly I couldn't care less." Tails said. He didn't want to be rude, but they didn't have time for this. In response, Twilight stepped on his hoof, "It was beautiful." She said, giving Tails a look that he assumed was meant to mean 'be nice'.

"Yeah, it was great." Tails said, though he kept watching the little blue man, something about him not sitting right with Tails.

"Oh thank you!" He said, smiling, "Would you please listen to another? It's been so long since I've played any music without getting yelled at and attacked."

"We're in a bit of a hurry, but...if it'll only take a second, then sure." Twilight said, having decided that he was on the more harmless side of the spectrum, and knowing that they might have the opportunity to make another ally.

The man began to sing again, but as he did, Tails realized what seemed so off about him. He wasn't singing... his mouth was a record player. Whenever he opened his mouth, Tails and Twilight could see the record spinning inside his mouth.

Tails turned too late, realizing that he and Twilight weren't in the clearing anymore. Now they seemed to be at the bottom of some kind of ravine. They could still see the night sky, and hear the man's music, but the floor and walls on either side of them were black, and there was an odd sense of vertigo that took them both.

"We're on the record." Twilight realized with a start. Tails knew she was right when he saw the needle heading towards them.

"I'm so sorry for this my dear public, but Gregory has offered a hardy reward for anyone who can bring you back to him. Dead or alive. I'll hope you understand." The man's voice boomed around them.

Tails jumped, ready to simply fly out of the man's mouth. But Twilight wasn't having it. She'd shown the man kindness and gotten hostility in return.

Her horn began glowing with magic, and Tails sped off through the air and out of the man's mouth. He returned to normal size the moment he was out.

No sooner had he turned around had the man's head burst into a display of light and color from whatever spell Twilight had cast.

Twilight appeared outside the man's record player mouth seconds later, the needle and the record levitating next to her for a few moments before shattering.

"Let's go." She said, taking off. Tails looked back once at the mournful music man, his record player now broken beyond repair as he tried desperately to put it back together, then rushed off with Twilight.


	17. Night 17

_I know it's strange…we don't have any real clue where we're going, what we'd do if we got there, or any real plan aside from 'keep going forward'…but I feel so strong now…like I'm on the right track…_

Tails and Twilight landed again after a few hours. They were starting to get hungry, but knew they couldn't trust any food they found in this world.

"We'll eat when we get back home." Twilight said, making Tails smile with the knowledge that she wasn't just rambling in madness anymore; they actually had a shot at escaping now.

A shot that others were trying to prevent, Tails remembered, when he heard a strange, mechanical whirring mixed with an intermediate snapping sound.

"We've got an unfriendly." Tails said, turning around to face whatever danger was after them. It wasn't long before they arrived; a large, mechanical mouse with what looked like marge meat grinders for ears; constantly snapping together as though against the creature's will.

Tails wasn't sure how he knew, perhaps it was just his intuition with machines or maybe he'd had enough experience with robots to know, but Tails could tell that this robot, Trap Mouse if the name engraved on the side was any indication, was sentient.

He could also tell that he wasn't acting on Gregory's orders, no, this machine was acting on instinct. 'A machine with instincts. Ain't that something.' Tails thought with a bitter smile as he watched the Trap Mouse roll closer to them, threatening to roll forward and snap at them at any moment.

Twilight's magic began flaring up, but Tails held up a hand to stop her. "You took the last one, I'll handle this. Besides, he's a machine. That's my territory." Tails said with a grin.

Under different circumstances, he'd want nothing more than to learn how Trap Mouse worked; what made it sentient, what fueled it, what gave it its instincts and why those instincts involved crunching him and Twilight to death.

These questions still haunted Tails, but stronger than that urge was the urge to destroy every bit of Gregory House that got anywhere near him or Twilight.

Tails and Trap Mouse rushed each other at the same time; Tails jumping to avoid the crushing spikes and beginning to dismantle Trap Mouse. The kind of machine didn't matter; it was always easier to take it apart than it was to put back together.

That said, Tails didn't just break every bit; no he simply made sure not a single piece was attached to any other before flying up and scattering the assembled scraps of metal to the wind.

Twilight nodded, seeming impressed by his work, as they took off again.


	18. Night 18

_Okay, so perhaps, as Twilight said, not everything in this world is evil. So how do you deal with someone who isn't evil, but still stopping you from escaping?_

"Are you lost?" Tails tensed, backing up as he turned, prepared to fight, only to end up seeing a small, black furred sheep, just a child by the looks of it. Tails turned to Twilight, who shook her head. This wasn't an enemy.

"No...well, yes, we are kind of lost, but we'd rather be lost than at that house back there." Tails said, pointing in the direction of Gregory House,

"Why's that Mister?" The sheep asked. "It's... it's just a bad place." Tails answered, "We're getting away from it. You can come with if you want."

The sheep shook his head, "No way! Gregory House is a really fun place. Don't you wanna go back there?"

Tails, for a moment, took the statement as a threat, before realizing that the kid was genuinely asking. "No, we've spend-I don't even know how long-trying to get away from the place. We're too tired to go through escaping again." Twilight said.

"You're tired?" The sheep asked, smiling ear to ear. "I can help with that!"

"You can?" Tails asked curiously, the sheep nodding excitedly, "Counting sheep helps everyone get to sleep. Watch." The sheep jumped, sailing much higher into the air than Tails or Twilight expected him to go before landing nearby.

"One sheep." He counted off before jumping again, landing on the other side of them, "Two sheep."

The sheep kept going, counting off his jumps as he went. For awhile Tails worried that it was some kind of trick, a spell perhaps, to make them fall asleep. But as the sheep went, the only one who got tired was the sheep. At twenty four, he collapsed on the ground and fell asleep.

"Should we take him with us?" Tails asked. "Well we can;t just leave him, especially not here." Twilight said, levitating the sheep onto her back. The two continued to walk along, but only made it a few steps before something went wrong.

The sheep began to talk in his sleep. Just incomprehensible mumbles at first, and then, "What if we can't really come back? What if I'm dooming Nekozombie again?"

Tails and Twilight froze, staring at the child, "Steven, Second, I'm leaving them behind aren't I? I'm horrible.."

Tails snatched the kid up in his hands, thinking they were being tricked, but sure enough he wasn't pretending, he really was asleep. "How could I do that? How could I kill her? I loved her!" The sheep recited Tails' inner thoughts without hesitation.

Tails panicked, dropping the sheep. The fall woke him up, and the pain from it made him burst out crying. When Tails initial panic died down, guilt took him over. He was about to apologize to the sheep when he heard another voice.

"Well, well, well, look what we got here boys!"

Tails recognized immediately the smell of tuna.


	19. Night 19

_I'm getting so sick and tired of all of this. I know I should keep my calm, like Sonic always does, but even Sonic went dark form at least once..._

"You're a hard man to find Tails my boy," Big Tuna said, chuckling as he swung the massive fish he held over his shoulders ans held it there like a baseball bat. "And you see, I don't like it when it's hard to find people. put's me in a bad mood you know? Put's my boys in an even worse mood." Big Tuna gestured to the fish-like men that had surrounded them, all pointing guns at Tails and Twilight.

"You know, I didn't think being rude to the children was your thing, I thought that was more my territory." Big Tuna said as the sheep fled from the area. "You sent him to us, didn't you?" Tails questioned, "You knew what his powers caused."

"Me? Never," Big Tuna said, making a mock expression of being hurt, "Now, did I overhear ol' Gregory sending him out to find you and decide to follow? Perhaps. But we've gotta settle the scores don't we?"

"Just get on with it already." Tails said angrily, hands squeezed tight into fists. "Well, if you insist." Big Tuna snapped his fingers, and his goons began firing. The bullets froze in midair, caught in Twilight's magic. "I've got the goons if you've got the bug guy." Twilight said with a smirk. Tails nodded, and they both started moving.

Twilight teleported outside the circle the goons had made around them, and began firing magic bolts at them and sending their bullets back into them if they tried to fire. She only aimed to disarm and incapacitate mind you, holding back on the power of her attacks so as not to kill or permanently harm them.

Tails jumped up, using his tails to take off at jet speed towards Big Tuna. Big Tuna, seeming amused by this, hefted his giant fish and swung it around at Tails. Tails was certain that if it hit him, he'd likely be taken out. He cut the speed, dropping to the ground to avoid the strike before launching himself back up and spin-dashing into Big Tuna.

The dash connected with Big Tuna's jaw, making him stumble back. Tails kicked his legs out, knocking the fish out of Big Tuna's hand before curling back into the spin-dash and smashing into the mob boss' face; sending him to the ground. Tails smirked as looked at the large fish man struggling to get to his feet. "We can talk about this right?" Big Tuna asked nervously.

Tails scoffed, picking up Big Tuna's fish-bat and swinging it into Big Tuna's face, knocking him out. Tails looked at the unconscious monster, and swung into him again. Then again, then again. Big Tuna's face was bloody and bruised, but he was about to get worse as Tails lifted the fish-bat again, determined to end it once and for all.

But when he swung, the fish wasn't in his hands. Twilight, having knocked out all the goons, had levitated the fish out of his hands. "And what exactly do you think you were doing?" Twilight questioned.

Tails looked from Twilight to Big Tuna and back again, "I...I'm sorry Twilight, I guess I lost it there for a minute." Twilight chuckled, "I can't exactly fault you for that. It's what this place does. Now let's go."

Twilight cast a spell to burn Big Tuna's fish-bat before she and Tails took off again.


	20. Night 20

_This place is pure evil. I knew that already of course, but you always think you know how bad a situation is and can be until it gets worse._

* * *

Tails and Twilight were back in the air, gliding over the forest. They had lost all sense of time and direction, and no longer had any real clue where they were going. They could have been flying in circles for all they knew.

Then, finally after lord knew how long, they saw something. Well, they heard it first. A train whistle. The moment they heard it, they both picked up the speed, moving faster towards the sound and flying up higher to get above the tree line.

There was a train.

"It could be another trick." Twilight pointed out, "It could also be our only way out." Tail said, "Trick or not, we gotta at least check it out."

Twilight couldn't argue, and they took off towards the train station. They would've reached it in less than an hour. The key word there being _would've. _If not for what Tails saw floating next to them when they were halfway there.

He slowed almost to a stop, his whole body went rigid, and the color drained from his face as he stared off into the distance.

"Tails?" Twilight asked, "What are you looking at?" "Cosmo…" Was all Tails could reply with.

He could see her there, floating just a short distance away from him. She was transparent, the way she'd been when she died, when she'd kissed him. And her expression was unhappy, refusing to meet Tails' eyes as though she were too regretful, or too angry, to look at him.

Tails changed course immediately, flying off after the phantom of Cosmo. "Tails! Tails! It isn't real!" Twilight called, flying after him.

The closer Tails got, the farther away Cosmo seemed. He didn't care. He needed to catch up to her, even if all he could do was apologize, he needed to catch up to her.

He kept flying, reaching his top speed and leaving Twilight far behind him as he bolted after Cosmo. He followed her out of the sky and onto the ground, where he ran through the trees after her, "Cosmo! Cosmo I'm sorry!" He shouted after her, wanting desperately to just see her eyes again.

Finally, she came to a halt at the edge of a clearing. Tails rushed over, stopping in front of her. "Cosmo… I…" Cosmo stopped him, raising her hand for silence. Tails nearly wept when he heard her speak, having thought he'd never hear her voice again.

"It's alright Tails… It really is." Cosmo told him, "I was never mad at you." Tails really did start sobbing at this, but looked up, seeing Cosmo's face for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"Stay here with me, won't you?" Cosmo asked, smiling at him. Tails smiled, "Yes, yes of course I will, I love y-" Tails was cut off by Twilight. The only way she'd been able to catch up was by teleporting, and appearing directly in front of Tails.

Inside Cosmo. Or… the phantom Cosmo. Only now, seeing Twilight able to pass through her like thin air did Tails' wits return, and he realized that he wasn't talking to Cosmo, not even just her spirit. It was another trick of Gregory House, still trying to lure him back.

The moment this realization hit, the phantom of Cosmo faded away.

"I..I'm sorry Twilight.." Tails said. "It's alright." Twilight said, "It would happen to anyone here. The important thing is-" "Revival!"

The voice was booming, and coming from the center of the clearing, "All that is lost can be returned! Death can become the living once again!" The tall man in the center of the clearing called to those around him.

Tails eyes widened. The image he'd seen hadn't been Cosmo. Cosmo was dead. But he remembered the seed, the only thing left of her, something he still had on him, even now, he wondered, 'maybe she doesn't need to be.'

Even as rational as Tails normally was, there was a limit. I jumped over Twilight, and rushed into the clearing.


	21. Night 21

_I know it didn't make any sense. Why should I have trusted a single thing I saw in this world? But… it was for Cosmo, I had to at least try._

* * *

"Can you really revive people?" Tails questioned. The man was tall, with a triangular head and a single eye that seemed to seemed glow a faint yellow.

The man laughed, though how he did so without a mouth, Tails didn't know, "My boy I can revive any that have passed on! So long as you have their remains with you. Place them inside the coffin, and allow me to work my magic!"

Tails nodded, walking over to the coffin. He took out Cosmo's seed, his hand shaking as he placed it in the wooden box and closed the lid over it. "Thank you so much, I'll repay you in any way I can." Tails told the man.

The man laughed, "The one eyed wizard will perform this ritual for free! SImply to demonstrate his ability to you! Now step back my boy."

Tails nodded, taking a few steps back away from the coffin, standing anxiously as he watched. Twilight appeared behind him, "Tails we have to go!" She said as urgently as possible while still keeping her voice low.

"You don't understand, it was my fault, I have to bring her back." Tails voice was oddly softer than usual, and Twilight picked up on it. "Tails… you're turning gray…"

It was true. Just as Twilight had been, Tails' fur was slowly dulling; gaining a grayish hue over it as he stared at the coffin while the one eyed wizard waved his hands over the coffin, chanting incoherently.

Tails didn't seem to hear her, or if he did, he didn't care. After several moments of chanting, the wizard threw his hands to the air, shouting, "Revival!"

SIlence. Nothing happened. Cosmo didn't open the coffin door and step out, she didn't revive at all. Nothing.

Tails ears flattened against his head, and his legs shook, "Why…" He questioned no one in particular.

The one eyed wizard sneered, "This corpse isn't fresh enough. Burn it so it won't contaminate future rituals!"

On que, the wizard's henchmen hurried up with torches, setting the coffin ablaze. Tails' eyes widened, but as much as he didn't want to let it happen, he couldn't make his limbs move. Twilight saw him getting even grayer as he watched, and knew what she decided to do. With a flash, she teleported away.

And then burst out of the flaming coffin, levitating Cosmo's seed with her.

Tails gasped, and rushed over to her. Several parts of her fur and mane had caught fire, and Tails quickly brushed them out. "Are you okay?!" He asked, worried.

Twilight cringed slightly from the burns, but smiled, "I'm fine, and so is she." Twilight levitated the seed to Tails, who took it carefully. It wasn't damaged.

Twilight got to her feet, seeing the color beginning to return slowly to Tails fur. "No more distractions. We know where to go. We're leaving this place now." Twilight said, determined. Tails nodded, and together, they took off once again towards the train station.


	22. Night 22

_We almost lost it there for a bit, but we're okay now. We know what to do and how to do it. It might hurt that we couldn't bring Nekozombie with, but we're getting out of this place._

* * *

Tails and Twilight burst out of the treeline. They were muddy, sweaty, and covered in leaves and various other things that had clung to them as they flew full tilts through the forest. But it was more than worth it.

They had stepped out into a train station. "How do we know it'll take us home?" Twilight asked, bitterly remember the Hell's Taxi incident. "We don't, but considering all the information there," Tails pointed to the sign, "It's worth a shot."

The sign claimed that the train about to leave now was the last train there would be. Really, it just said last train of the night, but with it only ever being nightfall here, Tails and Twilight could both assume that meant that this train would be their absolute last chance out of this place. Not to mention the sign for the train's destination had only one word on it: reality.

"It could be another Gregory House trap." Twilight said. "Yeah, it could," Tails admitted, "But if this really is our last chance to get out of here, do you really want to have missed it out of paranoia?"

Twilight couldn't find a good argument for that, possibly because she couldn't remember the last time she had had any good sleep. They stepped forward, nearly going ballistic when they saw that there was a mouse handing out the tickets.

After a moment, they realized that it wasn't Gregory, just a mouse that happened to be selling the tickets for the train. Twilight handed the mouse a pouch of bits. She didn't know how much the tickets cost, but she didn't quite care. She wouldn't have much use for them as a princess anyway.

The mouse gave them their tickets, and the two stepped forward onto the train. It was a cozy place inside, when you could sit in a soft, warm chair and think about how terrible it must be for someone to be outside the train.

Tails and Twilight sat down together as close to the door as they could. "Who's world do you think we'll be going to?" Twilight asked. "Well, it might make multiple stops; one for you, one for me. If not, my world has an existing method of hopping dimensions, and we can have you sent back to yours in no time."

Twilight nodded, "Same, though ours is a bit… chaotic." She said, remembering Discord's antics. Tails burst out laughing, "I don't think you'll ever know how ironic that statement was Twilight." Tails said, realizing this was the first time he had actually laughed in quite some time.

The door closed so the train could take off. Tails and Twilight both took a deep-breath. "Ready to face reality?" Tails asked with a smile. "After seeing this? Definitely." Twilight said.

Neither of them were aware that they were not the only ones on the train. Neither knew that there was in fact one more passengers. "If you want something done right," Gregory said to himself as he stepped onto the back of the train, just before it started moving, "You've gotta do it yourself."


	23. Night 23

_Almost there… almost there… I keep waiting for something to go wrong, something to drag me back away from reality. Perhaps I should be careful what I wish for… _

Tails and Twilight weren't sure exactly when the world around them faded, but the next thing they knew the train was speeding through an empty black void. No track, no forest, nothing.

"Is that bad?" Twilight asked, and all Tails could do was shrug. That was the issue with this, if something was going wrong, it would be too late by the time they realized it. They resigned to let themselves think everything was working fine.

Granted, thing _were _working fine. To creatures whose minds weren't evolved to process infinity dimensions of space and time, all that would be seen as they traveled between the fabric of reality would be nothingness.

What was _not _supposed to happen was the shaking that started to go through the train. "What was that?" Twilight questioned as Tails got up and looked around, holding the seat so he wouldn't stumble when the train shook again.

"I don't think we're the only passengers on this train." Tails said gravely. "Stay here. I'll handle our guessed." He said, walking down towards the back of the train. "Tails, it could be dangerous." Twilight said, getting up.

"It's definitely dangerous, which is why you need to stay here. If worst comes to worst, you've been here longer than me, and deserve to get back home more." Tails said, opening the door and walking inside.

It was dark inside, pitch black. Tails couldn't see anything at first, until he found a familiar pair of beady eyes staring back at him. "Hello my friend."

Tails rushed forward, spin dashing Gregory. The rat was sent spiralling into the wall, grunting in pain. "Well that was rather rude, but I suppose I shouldn't have startled you." Gregory chuckled.

"We're leaving Gregory." Tails stated, "You can't stop us."

"As a matter of fact I can," Gregory corrected, "But I can't imagine why you'd want to leave. Going back to reality? A world where your beloved Cosmo is dead? Where _you're _the reason she's dead? Why would you want that?"

"Because nothing in this world is real!" Tails shouted back, to which Gregory only shrugged, "So? If it makes you happy, what's the matter with a little fantasy?" To prove his point, Gregory stepped back, another phantom of Cosmo standing behind him.

Tails knew she wasn't real, but the sight of her still nearly made him break down crying.

"In this world, Cosmo doesn't have to be dead. She can be alive. She can be with you. Don't you want that?" Gregory questioned, "Or would you rather leave her for dead? Perhaps I've been off base this whole time, and you never really did love her at all!"

Before Tails could reply, Gregory was blasted with a bolt of magic. "Don't listen to him Tails!" Twilight shouted, "It may be hard to face reality, believe me, I know that, but you have to! You need to accept what happened and move passed it. If you don't… you'll end up like I was. Insane, chasing something that doesn't exist."

"Maybe staying here would make you happier," She added, "But only because you'd be stark raving mad with no clue what the difference between real and fake is! Maybe you'd get to be with Cosmo again, but it would be _Cosmo. _It'd be the memory of her and nothing else. And you have that already."

Tails was quiet, but he stepped back away from Gregory. He hadn't realized it until he'd heard Twilight's words, but he felt that he might have actually taken Gregory's offer. It would have been so easy… but no.

"We're going back to reality." Tails said again, his resolve reaffirmed.

Gregory grumbled from beneath the wreckage of the train seats he'd been blasted into. "You just insist on making things difficult, don't you?"

His voice was different now… loud, and resonating through the entire train as though he was speaking from every angle at once. His body began to glow white, there was a flash, and the train exploded.


	24. Night 24

_Maybe I'm not strong enough to return to reality… maybe it really would be better to stay at Gregory House… _

The explosion blasted the train cars apart. Twilight had managed to teleport Tails to the farthest car from the explosion; the one before the lead car (she wasn't sure why she hadn't been able to teleport directly into the lead car, but wasn't about to question what kinds of magic this world possessed.)

Tails and Twilight looked down at the other cars, all of which were now falling into the void of nothingness that had been surrounding the train. What little remained of the train, however, was still moving forward.

"Is he gone?" Twilight questioned. Tails peered down at the remains of the train, all of which were slowly fading into the endless blackness below them. "I think so." Tails said.

They were uneasy, but as far as they were concerned, they were safe. They weren't quite sure what Gregory had done. Why had he started glowing? What was that explosion? These questions rang out in their minds, nearly making them jump in fright when they again saw a bright white light.

Upon inspection however, this light was not coming from Gregory, but a large gateway of light ahead of the train. The train seemed to be heading right for it. At first, Tails was worried they would crash into it and be killed, but Twilight was practically sobbing she was so happy.

"I've seen that light before." Twilight said, "When I was nearly out the last time."

They were on their way out. It was hard to gauge how far away or close the light was, with it and them being the literal only things visible, but it was in sight, and that was good enough for them.

Until they heard that familiar chuckle. Their blood turned to ice in their veins as they turned back, looking over the edge of the train car.

Where before there had been nothing but darkness, now Gregory was there again. He looked different now though, his fur glowing white like a spirit as he flew up towards them in the darkness.

He held out his hands, and several streams of light appeared, attaching to the train like ropes. To Twilight and Tails' horror, the train began moving backwards, away from the gateway and closer to Gregory.

"As I said before my friend," Gregory said as another set of strings shot out and connected themselves to Tails' body, "You really can't get away from me. And the more you pull away, the further you get from escape. I'm not an evil force you know. I just want to help you escape reality."

That chuckle again. Twilight had burst into tears, and Tails was struggling as hard as he could to break the strings, but to no avail. For a horrible moment, Tails started to believe that this really was how it would end. Gregory would pull them back to the house and do lord knows what to them afterwards.

'Maybe it's what I deserve,' He thought, 'for what I did to Cosmo.'

But then another thought occurred to him, one he had been trying to avoid thinking back when it first happened. Cosmo hadn't been murdered. She had died on purpose, knowing full well what would happen, so she could save everyone. Tails may had pulled the trigger, but he'd done so on her order.

Tails refused to continue blaming himself for a crime he hadn't committed any longer. But maybe… maybe he could take the knowledge and put it to good use. Tails stood, and turned to Twilight, "You're going home," He told her, "And you're going to do a great job, whether you're a princess or not. Just never give up okay?"

Twilight hadn't even finished processing what Tails had said when he took a deep breath and jumped off the train.

Gregory hadn't been expecting this, and the force of him pulling on the strings, matched with Tails' jumping and flying towards him, caused him to lose his grip on the strings connected to the train when the fox collided with him.

Twilight couldn't even scream as she watched Tails and Gregory sink down into the murky blackness below, the train moving forward again, passing through the gateway of light before she could try to do anything.


	25. Night 25

"Twilight, Twilight open your eyes!"

Twilight actually didn't recognize the voice at first. It took her a few moment to remember the source of it. "Spike…?"

Twilight opened her eyes, seeing the small purple dragon looking down at her, a mix of worry, relief, confusion, and joy all scrawled across his face.

"I-it's really you… It's really you!" Spike broke down crying, clinging to Twilight's wing like a wounded pup clinging to their mother. "I-I knew they were wrong Twilight, I told them you were still out there." Spike said softly.

Twilight didn't understand what he meant at first. Looking around, she realized she was back in her castle, in her bed. And from the dust over every visible surface, she realized she must have been gone for a very long time.

"It's alright Spike, I'm back." Twilight said, "Now," She said with a smile, "Is my number one assistant ready to take a leader?"

Spike nodded, trying to dry his eyes. "Okay… but where did you go? Why were you gone for so long?" He asked.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions Spike, and I'll answer them as best I can, but first I need to contact Celestia." Twilight said. Spike didn't look thrilled to have to wait for answers, but he didn't argue. He picked up a quill and scroll.

* * *

If she hadn't been Twilight Sparkle, they would have called her mad and had her sectioned. But Twilight was notorious for rejecting things that couldn't be explained, and yet here she was, in the flesh after two years of being gone, trying to explain that she'd been sent to a logicless world through means she didn't understand.

The claim was wild, but the other three princesses were so overjoyed to have Twilight back at all that they were willing to hear the claim out.

"What do you propose we do about this Twilight?" Luna questioned, "If this realm is one of fantasy and shadows, perhaps it lays somewhere in the world of dreams, where I could-" Twilight cut her off, "No. Though Gregory House is a world of fantasy and nightmares, everything in it is real, horrifyingly so. It is my belief that it is a different world entirely, a separate dimension from our own that we've never come into contact with until now."

"And what of this fox creature you described?" Celestia asked, "Do you believe he was from this world as well?"

Twilight shook her head, "He described his own world to me. I believe that aside from Gregory House, the world beyond your mirror, and our own world, there are many, many others. Possibly more than we could ever count or map out. Multiple universes all existing at once with no idea of each other. I know I must sound mad, but I think I know a way to prove it."

"And what is that?" Cadence asked. "Discord." Twilight said, "He has made reference to many different realities on multiple occasions. If you recall, he once nearly sent an earth pony by the name of Tree Hugger to one such dimension. I believe he could use his powers to enter the realm of Gregory House."

"With all do respect Twilight, why would you want him to?" Cadence asked, "We all thought you were gone forever for so long, and you only managed to escape with the help of this fox creature. Why would you want to risk opening a door back to this world when it's possible that right now you're completely safe from it?"

Twilight sighed, "Because what if I'm not? More importantly, what if others are not? No one should be forced to go through that terrible place. But more than that…" Twilight looked up at them, "I have at least one friend I refuse to leave behind in that house."

* * *

"Poor fellow." Gregory said to the newest guest as they passed by Tails, who was cradling a flower pot containing a single green flower.

"Get away!" Tails hissed at them, "She's mine! I won't let you hurt my Cosmo! Away with you!"

"I don't have the heart to tell him." Gregory told the guest as they moved on. Tails waited until Gregory and the newbie were completely out of range before gently setting the flower that he knew full well was not Cosmo on the nearby table.

"How long do you think you can keep Gregory fooled?" Nekozombie asked through the wall. "As long as it takes." Tails said, smoothing down his fur, which he kept looking wild and feral in the presence of Gregory.

"So, how are you doing on those chains?" Tails asked. "I managed to unhinge them last night," Nekozombie said, "Thank you for the tools."

"Anything for a friend." Tails said with a yawn as he locked the door and went to bed.


End file.
